


Think I Wanna Marry You

by fridaysblues (taemin)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-10
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 12:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taemin/pseuds/fridaysblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun's planning the biggest proposal ever. Jongin's not going to know what hit him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Think I Wanna Marry You

"I think I need robots," Baekhyun says, dumping a fifth packet of sugar into his coffee. Nobody speaks for a moment.

Baekhyun's been coming up with crazy ideas since they'd moved into their suite freshman year. It's been six years since he came into the common room and announced _we're going to form a barbershop quartet and we're going to get laid_ , followed up a week later by _forget the barbershop quartet, we can't have one with three tenors. We're going to do parkour and film it and we're going to get laid_. Chanyeol, Jongdae and Kyungsoo are used to the outlandish suggestions Baekhyun comes up with when he's trying to make an impression.

This is a new one, though. He's never suggested anything that involved artificial intelligence before.

Jongdae checks his watch. "I've got to get back to work soon," he says, completely ignoring Baekhyun's outburst. "They need me in on a conference call with corporate at 12:30."

"Ro… bots?" Chanyeol asks, his chin covered in bits of pastry from the croissant he's been systematically demolishing. Jongdae slides the napkin dispenser across the table and gestures at it, nose wrinkled in disgust.

Kyungsoo purses his lips. "Don't," he says. "Why would you ask him? You know we're going to get dragged into something stupid." He fishes his teabag out of the depths of his mug, spoon clinking, and winds the string around the handle.

"It has to be something really memorable," Baekhyun insists. He does this a lot, too—starts in the middle of a conversation that began in his thoughts without bringing the rest of them up to speed.

"I've got to go," Jongdae says. "Good luck."

"Doves," Baekhyun says. "A hundred white ones."

"Are you going to finish that?" Chanyeol asks, pointing at the cruller on Jongdae's plate. Kyungsoo puts his face in his hands.

 

"How much does it cost to rent a marching band?" Baekhyun wonders the next time they're together. He's hunched over a notebook and scribbling something in that terrible chicken scratch of his, gripping the pen so hard it's throwing fat blotches of ink over his list. "Is it more or less than renting a yacht?"

"How would I know?" Kyungsoo snaps into the brim of his mug, eyes narrowed.

"I'm just wondering."

"What happened to the robots?" Chanyeol asks.

"Too much money—oh. Never mind." Baekhyun says, eyes riveted on the door of the cafe as Jongin pulls it open. His whole face changes, an easy smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Hey, you made it."

Jongin slides into the booth under Baekhyun's arm, eyes still puffy with sleep. He half-heartedly smothers a yawn with his fingertips and looks around at the other men at the table. "Hi, sorry I'm late. Fell asleep at my desk, didn't hear the alarm."

Kyungsoo gives a little wave and clucks sympathetically. "I remember those days. You almost finished with the thesis yet?"

Jongin shrugs. "Waiting on the edits from my advisor so I can re-write the entire thing."

"We were just talking about robots— _ow_ , fuck, what was that for?" Chanyeol yelps, clutching at his shin. Baekhyun shoots him a warning look.

"Robots," Jongin mumbles, leaning into rest his chin on Baekhyun's shoulder. "What about them?"

"What time did you get to sleep last night?" Baekhyun asks, burying his face into the crown of Jongin's head. Jongin shrugs.

"Ten."

The ends of Jongin's hair tickle Baekhyun's throat when he nods. "That's not so bad."

"Yeah. Two hours is like, a solid nap."

"Wait. In the _morning_? Jongin—"

Slow, heavy breathing. He's already asleep again.

 

Jongdae's finally put it all together. "So you're planning on proposing to Jongin, is that it?" he asks Baekhyun a few days later. Baekhyun's head bobs sheepishly and suddenly it all makes sense: if his entire life is a series of events designed to outdo the ones that came before, he's really got to push it over the edge for this monumental occasion.

"Whoa. Marriage." Chanyeol's eyes pull round, like two white moons. "I never thought you'd be the first one of us—I mean, no offense, but you're so… _you._ "

"Fuck you too, Chanyeol," Baekhyun says, swinging across the table to punch Chanyeol in the arm. "But I just can't figure out _how_ —I thought about skywriting, but it's hard to get him outside during the day." His eyes light up. "Fireworks, though. Hey, Jongdae, how much—"

"Why don't you just _ask_ him?" Kyungsoo asks, exasperated. "Would it kill you to be straightforward? Impressing him doesn't make him any more likely to say yes."

Baekhyun blinks slowly, affronted. "Kyungsoo. Dude," he says slowly. "Just who do you think I am?"

 

In the end, though, it's Jongin. Baekhyun's been looking at prices for private firework shows for three days when Jongin says _let's go eat, I'm starving_ and drags Baekhyun from food cart to food cart until their fingers slip against each other with grease and salt when they hold hands and every kiss tastes a little bit like garlic and smoke, and Baekhyun leans against Jongin on a park bench and says, "I've missed spending time with you like this."

"Me, too," Jongin says. He wipes his mouth on his sleeve. "I'm done with university next month. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself after that."

"Get a real job," Baekhyun deadpans. "Become a functioning adult."

"Besides that." Jongin looks down at his hands in his lap and fidgets a little. "Listen, hyung—remember… we talked about moving in together?"

"That's the plan." Baekhyun sucks a little bit of stray sauce off his knuckle and turns to look at Jongin, finger still in his mouth. "Why? You having second thoughts or something?"

"No, no." Jongin always gets flushed when he's embarrassed, and his cheeks are bright red now. "I just. Does that—I just wanted to know. If."

Baekhyun lunges forward and kisses Jongin on the forehead. He leaves a shiny mark, two thin lip prints, right between his eyes. "If you're worried about rent, don't. I can cover it until you've got a job."

"No, that's not. I wasn't worried about that. I mean, thank you."

"What, then?" Baekhyun chuckles. "You want to be a trophy husband or something? I can't keep you forever, you'll have to get a job."

"It's not the rent, but, uh." Jongin lowers his eyes. "About the husband thing."

Baekhyun chokes on his own spit trying to swallow and play it cool. "Mmm?"

"Can we? Get married, I mean. I want to. I mean—if you want to. Marry me."

Words disappear for a minute. Baekhyun flounders, thinks about a marching band and doves and a string quartet and all these fucking grand plans he'd had and then he's whispering, _"Yes, yes,"_ into Jongin's mouth and Jongin's— _crying?_ —and then they're just two idiots in love on a park bench. There isn't a robot to be seen anywhere and Baekhyun finds it matters less than he thought it would.

 

"So he beat you to the punch?" Jongdae asks innocently, his eyes twinkling. He manages to duck the muffin Baekhyun hurls his way just in time. It bounces off Kyungsoo's head instead and lands with a scalding splash in Chanyeol's cappuccino.

"Hey!" Chanyeol protests, grabbing at the napkin dispenser. "This is a silk shirt, jackass—"

"Send me the bill," Jongdae says flippantly. "I'm too busy enjoying Baekhyun's shame right now."

Baekhyun winds up to throw another muffin. A thought strikes him. "Shit." He puts the muffin back in the basket. "You guys. Do you think David Bowie would play our wedding?"

Kyungsoo bows into the edge of the table and very gently begins to bang his head.

**Author's Note:**

> part of my holiday advent ficlet series 2013. written for gdragon_ism@lj and posted for dec 10th.


End file.
